Can people be fined for making false police reports?

This question came after a 10-year-old who said she was kidnapped last week in the Klahanie area recanted her story.

“There is a criminal penalty for filing a false police report,” King County Sheriff’s spokesman John Urquhart said. “Probably if someone is over 13 or certainly if they’re an adult, they would be facing a penalty for a false report.

“But at 10 years old there’s no action we’re going to take.”

The girl explained her reasons for fabricating the kidnapping story, but police said Monday they aren’t disclosing that information.

When false reporting charges are filed against an adult, the court can order people to pay restitution to the law enforcement agency that investigated. But that is not common, police say.

Also rare are child kidnappings by strangers.

The King County Sheriff’s Office, which investigated the bogus case, has more reports of false kidnappings and child luring by strangers than real cases, Urquhart said. But people still need to take precautions.

False reporting is a misdemeanor in Seattle, police spokeswoman Renee Witt said. The subject is addressed in section 12A.16.040 of the Seattle Municipal Code:

A person is guilty of false reporting if he or she:

A. Initiates or circulates a written or oral report or warning of an
alleged or impending occurrence of a fire, explosion, crime,
catastrophe, or emergency knowing that such report contains false
information and knowing that such report is likely to cause evacuation
of a building, place of assembly, or transportation facility, or to
cause substantial public inconvenience or alarm; or

B. Makes, files or causes to be filed with a public officer of the
City a written report, statement, application, citation or complaint
which he knows to contain a misstatement of a material fact; or

C. Makes a verbal statement relating to a crime, catastrophe, or
emergency to a Seattle Police officer or a Seattle Police Department
911 emergency operator, knowing that such statement contains a
misstatement of a material fact; or

D. Gives false written or oral identification to a Seattle Police
officer when such officer is investigating a crime or possible crime,
executing a search or arrest warrant, issuing a citation or notice of
infraction or making an arrest, knowing that such identification is
false.

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